We're Just Friends...

Chapter 8

~Paparazzi ~

Walking into the club, stroke lights blind you for the first minute or two, the smell of the fog machines makes you want to vomit, and the feeling of excitement rushes through you.

"Okay," I say, "none of you will get in trouble if you don't have IDs except me, so if anyone asks, I'm twenty-one"

Everyone nodded and smiled at me.

"Time to hit up the ladies," Calum joked while rubbing his hands together. We all slowly broke away from each other, until it was just me and Ashton standing in a corner.

"Do you think they will play decent music any time soon?" He joked.

"Probably not," I took a sip of my drink, not wanting to get drunk, I only ordered some sort of watered-down soda.

We had been at the club for about three hours, and I was barely sweating, which was nice. Ashton broke away from me minutes after eleven and I was stuck by myself until a tall blonde male approached me.

"Hey," he said, eyeing me from head to toe and back.

"Hi."

He stepped closer to me, and the smell of beer hit me.

"What's your name?"

I pushed him back a little with me hand, making him chuckle,

"None of your business."

He stepped even closer, shoving me against the wall. I could feel a hand on my hip, running down the side of my thigh. I let out a small screech as he leaned in to kiss me.

Before I could react, he was pulled away from me,

"Get away from her," Michael growled in a deep voice. The guy stood a little shorter than Michael,

"Or what, Space Head?"

Michael pulled back a fist and it landed on the guy's left cheek.

"Michael!" I yelled, grabbing his shirt as he went to fight.

"Michael! Michael, stop!"

I finally pulled him away, grabbed his hand, and pulled him through a back door into a side alley.

His breathing was heavy as his fists slowly relaxed,

"I...I'm sorry..."

I tackled him in a hug,

"Thank you," I whispered in his ear. I could smell the distant aroma of vodka on his warm breath.

"I saw him...walking over to you. And when I saw him shove you..."

"Shh...Michael, it's fine. I'm glad you did that. You saved me."

He put his chin on the top of my head. I could hear people shuffling and kicking,

"Let me go, assholes!"

It was the guy from before. The guards had him by the shirt collar and tossed him out. He looked at us,

"Freak," he spat at Miley. His fists clenched again,

"Do you want me to kick your ass? She won't stop me this time."

He jogged away before Michael could pound him.

I walked back into the club with Michael, looking around for any sign of Ashton.

"Did you see Ash?" I screamed over the music.

"No, I haven't seen him."

I stood on my tiptoes, trying to look for Ashton, but I only found Calum and Luke.

"We should probably head back," I said once I gathered three out of the four boys. They nodded as we all went in search for Ashton.

I weaved in and out of sweaty dancers and strobe lights. People bumped into me and almost knocked me over, but I grabbed Luke's shoulder to keep me from falling. We found a break in the crowd next to the bar, and sure enough, Ashton was standing there, talking to some girl with blonde hair.

As they spoke, she graciously places her hand on his arm and giggle. I tried to keep my cool as I walked to him,

"Ash, we need to leave before we get kicked out."

The blonde glared at me,

"Excuse me, I'm trying to have a conversation."

I glared in her direction,

"And I'm trying to keep him from spending too much money on a random street-walker," I turned back to Ashton, grabbing his arm, "we have to go."

I gripped the steering wheel of the rental tight. I wasn't intoxicated at all, but Mikey was behind me, casually kicking my seat toward every few minutes.

"Hot blonde you were talking to, Irwin." Calum laughed in the back.

Ashton rolled his eyes,

"I guess, but she wasn't really my type."

"Because her name isn't Violet?" Like smirked from beside Calum.

"Shut up, asshole."

I started to laugh when I looked in tej rear-view mirror. But Michael caught my attention, he was staring off into space.

When we got back to the hotel, I walked all of the boys to their rooms, but went in with Luke and Mikey.

"I'm just going to put him in bed, he's a little out of it after that little mix up at the club." I whispered to Luke after Michael had gone into his bedroom. I trailed in after him and shut the door.

"I'm really sorry...about earlier." Michael said as he picked up a sweater off his floor and pajama pants.

"Mikey, you don't have to be sorry. You saved me. Who knows what would've happened if you wouldn't have been there."

He went into his bathroom and emerged seconds later dressed in a light grey sweater and black pants. He quickly made himself sweater paws, as he often did when he was sleepy, and walked over to me. He wrapped me in a warm, alcohol scented hug,

"You're my best friend, Vi," he muttered.

I hugged his neck, "You're my best friend too, Mikey. Let's get you to bed."

He shuffled to his bed and practically fell into it. I pulled the covers up to his chin as if I was his mother, and kissed him in the forehead.

"Goodnight, Mikey."

"Goodnight, Purple."

I let out a chuckled and shut his door behind me. Luke stood in the kitchen in his pajamas,

"You're such a mom." He laughed.

"Hey, I'm just taking care of my boys. Now get to bed, Hemmings, it's past your bedtime."

"Fine, mom." He mocked when he started to his room.

"Goodnight, Lukey!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He shut his door when I started out the other.

I really, really love them